Other Grandeur Travelers.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The zit that saved the day

Our morning was anything but typical in the nippy and foggy town of Lohmar. It was scenic. After waking up to the polluted air and traffic of Espana (in Manila; not the country) for two years, it was refreshing to see the mountains and sprawling fields for a change. When you are lucky enough, you can even see a hare hop across the field while you eat your fruits or drink Heineken in the garden. It was the life I was longing to have after years of medical school. Tina and I were actually getting ready for our trip to the quintessential European destination for early 20s travelers--Amsterdam. However, it was not a quick decision to make. Since we were staying in Germany for ten days, we also considered Hamburg and Munich but the inexaustible appeal of Amsterdam was a winner. The images of the Red light district, Van Gogh, Windmills, and Space cakes swallowed the idea of visiting the English garden and Bavarian Alps in Munich or the canals in Hamburg (where the Hamburger may have originated). It was then cut and dried. We were going to be stoned. Or so I thought.

Waiting for the bus in a foreign country can be quite challenging but it was painless in suburban Germany. They had a system which worked. Something that I always wished Manila had. You just had to check the time and the buses will pick you up as scheduled.

When we arrived at the Cologne Hauptbahnhof (train station), we were way ahead of schedule. Oblivious to the time, Tina and I were just chatting away when I suddenly noticed that I had a painful zit on my chin. At that moment, a train (ICE 123) arrived but it was not ours. The digital announcement board said 10 minutes before our train, ICE 126, arrived. It was unusual for the German trains to be late. I found it odd that ICE 123 was still there when all the passengers had completely left the train. I was getting worried that our train might be delayed. Vanity never failed to distract me though. The pain of my zit was bothersome that I had to look for a mirror to see how big it was. Luckily, the train's side had a metal shiny enough to be a mirror. Beside the metal was the digital display of the train's name - ICE 123. The digital board was already flashing 2 minutes before ICE 126 was going to leave. But where was our train??? Had ICE 126 melted? So much for German punctuality. Back to my previous business then. I again inspected my zit when the digital name of train abrubtly changed from ICE 123 to ICE 126. Good Lord. It was our train and it was about to leave! I immediately shouted " Shit! Tina! It's our train!". I grabbed my bag and hopped on to the train. Tina also did the same. We were relieved that I was able to figure it out just in time. We found our seats and laughed at the thought that we could have been left behind.

My zit was the hero of day. Vanity could not have served a better purpose. As soon as we were settled, we knew it was going to be a smooth ride going to Amsterdam. We were right. But, in a few hours, we would find out that there would be more close calls in the Land of Magic Space Cakes.